Itron Inc. (ITRI) announced that it has been selected by DTE Energy Co. (DTE), energy provider to 2.1 million electric customers in Southeastern Michigan, along with another company Tropos Networks, for its $168 million SmartCurrents program.
DTE’s SmartCurrents program is a first smart grid program targeted at modernizing the electric grid, along with improving the reliability and efficiency of the distribution system and also keeping the customers informed about their power usage. It is a $168 million project being funded through an $84 million U.S. Department (DOE) Smart Grid Investment Grant along with funds from DTE Energy.
The phase one of the program extends to more than 500 square miles and includes the installation of approximately 800,000 Itron OpenWay meters, of which almost 300,000 OpenWay meters have already been installed.
The company’s OpenWay meters, the contract also includes Itron’s OpenWay Integrated Cell Router, which will provide wireless mesh communications with smart meters, as well as cost-effective and reliable data backhaul to the utility’s core network. While Tropos Mesh Routers will provide communications for advanced distribution applications, such as distribution automation (DA) and voltage optimization.
The solution program combines Itron’s OpenWay Cell Relay (900 MHz mesh technology) and Tropos’ Mesh Router (2.4/5.8 GHz mesh technology) in a single device that provides a high-performance smart grid communications foundation, blending OpenWay and Tropos’ GridCom architecture. The combination of the two technologies will lead to simplifying operations, visibility across wireless networks, aggregating configuration, performance and network fault monitoring.
DTE Energy is a long-valued customer of Itron and the company is impressed that it has been selected to demonstrate the inherent flexibility of the OpenWay architecture to integrate a variety of communication options.
Itron is a leading technology provider to the global energy and water industries. It is the world's leading provider of intelligent metering, data collection and utility software solutions, with nearly 8,000 utilities worldwide relying on its technology to optimize the delivery and use of energy and water. It competes with the likes of General Electric Co. (GE) and Roper Industries Inc. (ROP). We currently have a Zacks #3 Rank (short-term Hold recommendation) on the stock.
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